I need to calculate the longest length of about 500 rectangles. I tried using feature to line, split line at vertices, add geometry attributes, but this assumes I only have 4 vertices - not always the case. Any thoughts on how best to do this?
Fun! Your workflow looks pretty legit, but yeah I see what you mean about unnecessary vertices. I would add this one step at the beginning of your process:
Simplify Polygon—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS Desktop
Use the POINT_REMOVE algorithm. From the docs:
Retains critical points that preserve the essential shape of a polygon outline and removes all other points. This is the default.
Let us know how that goes.
Micah
From arcmap tools Minimum bounding geometry using minimum width option
or if you are using shapefiles Bounding Containers... with the minimum area bounding rectangle option
Both will give a width, length and orientation option